Education Tidbits

Louisiana’s Nicholls State University’s Geospatial Technology Center is now teaching surveying to some 50 undergrads. But the future may include a grad program and a statewide GIS center. The center received more than $100,000 in donations after its founding in 2003.

- Houma Today

Hawaii’s biggest insurance carrier, Island Insurance, matched a $50,000 in state funds to launch EAST in Farrington High School on Oahu. It’s one of the first on the island to participate in the program that encourages hands on learning about the environment using technologies including GIS and GPS.

Honolulu Advertiser

Students from Page County High School and Luray High School in Virginia are mapping important local data (crime, hydrants, sex offenders) and receiving some college credit.

- Valley Banner

The bachelor of applied science (cartography and geovisualisation) at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne is one of only two cartography programs in Australia and turns out students who among other careers work for travel publisher Lonely Planet.

- The Age

Qualcomm Ventures Invests $9 million in MapMyIndia

MapMyIndia provides digital maps, location-based services and GPS navigation on handhelds and in cars. The investment, along with others from Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Sherpalo Ventures and Nexus India Capital may lead to expansion outside of India. A telling comment from MapmyIndia MD Rakesh Verma: “After the acquisition of Navteq, the field has been opened. We are examining and have plans for venturing overseas in 2010-11.”

- Economic Times